PREMIERE: Charmpit – Buckfast My Heart (+ Interview)

It’s PREMIERE time! California/London “popstar punk anarcuties” Charmpit are releasing their second EP Jelly in July and are giving us a preview with their single ‘Buckfast My Heart’. We’ve also asked them some questions about the track, as well as the London DIY scene and any future plans the trio has. Read the interview below the premiere embed – and go to Bandcamp to pre-order that EP!

Hi! Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us. To start off, can you tell a bit about your upcoming EP Jelly? How do you feel about the upcoming release?

Jelly is our 2nd EP, our first, Snorkel, was recorded in a shed at Anne Marie’s housing co-op (Sanford Housing Co-op, y’all should check it out). It’s very much how we were feeling – like jelly – we had written the songs off our first EP for First Timers fest and kinda expected to stop after we performed there – learning how to play instruments / write songs / was just a project to get us through winter. We didn’t know anything about the punk scene in London and didn’t expect ppl would like us. So after our sublimely warm reception we were just like DAMN, super nervous about this magical DIY world we’d semi-fallen into and obvs had mega imposter syndrome. So the songs on Jelly were written when we were scared as fuck but continuing…so we feel ELATED that we made it through : ) and actually super proud of it and all we learned.

But getting Jelly out to y’all? That’s a pretty cute story of DIY support as it probs wouldn’t have happened without Kluster Rooms Recording Studio offering free recording & sound engineering skillshares for women and nonbinary ppl <3 such supportive cuties <3 and Keroleen Records seeing an instagram video of us in the studio and being like hey? whatchu recording? I wanna help you put out another EP. I don’t know, maybs this is how it all usually goes down, but we’re new here and SO EXCITED BY THE KINDNESS and to reach more ears who’ve maybe been waiting for our femme friendship sounds to float on by. Yeah, we’re stoked.

What is your new single, ‘Buckfast My Heart’, about?

BUCKFAST MY HEART <3 is an ode to Britney’s ‘Email My Heart’ & a real life tale of crushing on some1 in the bleak of winter! & how we crush like BUCKFAST – powerful, tasty, energized, confused. It’s our only song not explicitly about femme friendship ~~~ but it still RLY rly is. Our songwriting is processing our lives together, we analyse, theorise and bounce ideas off each other, and then some1 kinda organically pulls a sentence from the convo that struck us and we experiment with melody / harmony and that’s the beginning of our songs : ) SO ~~~~ BUCKFAST MY HEART was written over the never ending WINTER months ~ as things in the crush oscillated, progressed, stunted — through it all we were writing this song together, through tears & giggles ~*~ at the end of it all we had both learned a lot more about our expectations and needs in romantic relationships — zoomed & grew together some more xoxo

You’re originally from California but you’ve ‘found a home’ in the London queer DIY community. What’s so special about the community in London?

It’s super nurturing. And we think genuinely, pro-actively, working on inclusion in punk. We prefer DIT (do it together) community BECUZ that’s really the foundation of our London queer punx scene. It’s v nothing about us without us – we build it all ourselves with our various skills, skill sharing along the way so ppl feel empowered to participate in whatever ways excite them. We’d never have started playing music without First Timers @ DIY Space for London – no punk scene in California, and no one we’d met that played instruments – invited Rhianydd & I in. That’s powerful stuff – to keep your scene open and constantly growing and changing.

What’s next for Charmpit?

We’re moving into a CHARMPAD all 2gether (Charm Gardens is another working title)!!! Is this how an album is nurtured? In between washing the dishes & watching Crossroads hungover, right? We’re *thinking* so. & we’re playing IndieTracks & going on a UK tour with The Potentials in August!!! Still exploring how pedals work and if we like them. & probz lots more music videos because we love inviting everyone into CHARMPIT UNIVERSE. Also, we weren’t musicians when we lived in California so we wanna tour 1) USA or 2) le West Coast in 2k18. We’re nearly out of our puppy punk phase and ready to stumble into the world and beyond.

Which other bands are you currently listening to?

Charly Bliss <3 Diet Cig <3 Adult Mom <3 Girlpool <3 Bearcats <3 Colour Me Wednesday’s last EP <3 I’ve (Anne Marie) found a delicious part of being in a band is that I’m much more UP ON WHAT’S HAPPENING, ~cool~ again

Would you consider yourselves or CHARMPIT as a band Beautiful Freaks?

So freaky. So beautiful. 3 beautifully freaky souls that found each other. The three of us really really love each other. Think it’s not spoken about enough that once you find UR people, a real support network, that’s when U can grow. Last night I (Anne Marie again) was throwing up Malibu all over the streets of London and I had Rhi and Alex rubbing my back simultaneously and I thought WOW – I am wealthy in love.